The present application relates to bidirectional bipolar junction transistors with two separate base contacts, and also to related methods.
The present application teaches, among other innovations, methods for operating bidirectional double-base-contact bipolar junction transistors, known as B-TRANs. In various preferred embodiments, the present application discloses each of the following, separately and in combinations: turn-on as a diode, before base current is allowed to bring the device into low-voltage-drop transistor operation; base drive from the collector-side base contact terminal; a two-stage turnoff, in which the first stage shorts each base contact region to the adjacent emitter/collector region; and a passive-off mode, in which a low-forward-voltage diode (e.g. a Schottky diode) is connected in parallel with each emitter-base junction, to prevent the emitter-base junctions from getting close to forward bias.
The present application adds additional data to the disclosure of the parent application, to further show the technical success of the various disclosed innovations.